A mysterious crash

Reader Dave C. sent me a link to a video clip on YouTube, purporting to portray the crash of a Tupolev Tu-154 airliner of Caspian Airlines. He wasn't sure whether the title was correct, because in the foreground is an F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber of the Iranian Air Force, clearly being filmed through the open after door of a transport aircraft.

I was able to confirm that the video isn't of a Caspian Airlines plane, or of a Tu-154. It's actually film of the crash of an Iranian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 transport. This particular aircraft had quite a history. It was supplied by the former Soviet Union to Iraq, which modified it (along with two others) to function as an Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft. The British Spyflight Web site reports:

Saddam Hussein and his generals knew that the USA were unlikely to ever sell him a workable AWACS, so instead he directed various Iraqi engineers to create their own using the Il-76 Candid airframe. The first version, known as the Baghdad 1, featured a French Thompson–CSF Tiger-G radar, built under licence in Iraq as the Salahuddin G, which was the mounted right at the rear of the fuselage below the tail. This was supported by a Rockwell-Collins IFF pod slung underneath, together with various electronic equipment from Selenia in Italy and Marconi in England. Thompson acted as the systems intergrator as well as building the fibreglass and composite radome that replaced the aircraft’s belly doors. However, although the Tiger-G was a sophisticated 2-D radar, it was designed to operate from the ground and nobody ever imagined anyone would seriously consider hanging the radar upside down inside the back of an IL-76 and try to use it as an AWACS system. A French engineer who saw the system commented, “ I don’t believe in it for an instant. The Tiger-G gives out so much heat when it turns, the people manning it in the back of the plane are going to fry after half and hour”. Unsurprisingly, the Baghdad 1 proved to be a complete failure. During Gulf War 1 the Baghdad 1 was flown out to Iran and was seen in 2003 on the ramp at Tehran-Mehrabad air base.

Three other Iraq IL-76 aircraft were given the Adnan conversion, consisting of a more conventional rotodome above the fuselage (shown below), but this system was also a failure.




Although one of the Adnan aircraft was destroyed on the ground at Al Taqaddum airfield on 23 Jan 91 during Gulf War 1, the two other aircraft managed to take refuge in Iran where they are believed to remain in storage at Shiraz air base.

There's more about other Il-76 AEW&C conversions at the link.

It's reported that Russian experts upgraded one of the former Iraqi Il-76's with more suitable and effective radars (probably using technology from the Beriev A-50, which was itself based on the Il-76). This effort produced a single AEW&C aircraft that the Iranians christened 'Simorgh'. The converted aircraft is shown in the photograph below.




It's this aircraft that apparently crashed on September 22nd, 2009, as shown in the video clip below. It appears in the background at the 12 second mark. (As noted above, please ignore the title of the video clip - it's wrong.)

The intriguing thing about this crash is the dispute over its cause. Initial reports indicated it was the result of a collision between the Il-76 and an Iranian Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighter-bomber, while they were traveling in close formation as part of a fly-past and military parade commemorating the start of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). However, Iran later denied this, despite eyewitness testimony from some onlookers. The Aviation Safety Network record of the incident follows the 'official' line and omits any mention of a collision, instead reporting:

It has been reported that the crew reported an engine fire. While maneuvering for an emergency landing at Tehran-Mehrabad Airport (THR) runway 29L the radar dome detached, striking the tail fin. Control was lost and the airplane crashed.

There's more at the link.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe the reports of a collision, if only because Iran has persistently lied about anything and everything that might be deemed to reflect negatively on the country, or the capabilities of its military personnel. It's gone so far as to edit a photograph of missile launches to disguise a failure, and manufacture a fake carrier for advanced missiles in an attempt to fool onlookers that they were in service. With such a record of mendacity, I don't trust any official Iranian report.

Thanks, Dave. Your inquiry sent me on an interesting investigation, and produced a blog post that I hope will interest other readers too.

Peter